1970 Plymouth Superbird in Vitamin C & 426 Hemi Engine Sound

Tom Lembeck has owned this 1970 Plymouth Superbird — one of roughly 135 built with the 426 Hemi — since 2007, and Lou Costabile catches up with him in Chicago for ‘My Car Story.’ Finished in Plymouth’s High Impact Vitamin C orange, the car draws no shortage of comments calling it the most memorable muscle car of the 1970s. Watch to hear Lembeck’s decade-plus history with one of Mopar’s rarest homologation specials.

Only around 135 Plymouth Superbirds ever left the factory with a 426 Hemi under that towering wing, and Tom Lembeck has owned one of them since 2007. That’s the kind of ownership tenure that turns a car from a collection piece into something closer to a family member, and when Lou Costabile catches up with Lembeck in Chicago for “My Car Story,” the conversation goes well past the paint and the wing. Comments underneath the video make clear this particular color has a way of getting under people’s skin — several viewers admit they can’t stop thinking about it days later.

One of Roughly 135

Plymouth built the Superbird for a single model year — 1970 — specifically to homologate its aerodynamic nose cone and towering rear wing for NASCAR competition, and only a fraction of the total production run left the factory with the 426 Hemi rather than the more common 440. Sources place that Hemi-equipped number at roughly 135 cars, making Lembeck’s Superbird one of the rarest configurations of an already rare model, and explaining why a car built for stock car racing homologation now commands serious money and serious respect from Mopar collectors.

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Thirteen Years and Counting

By the time this video was filmed in October 2017, Lembeck had owned the Superbird for a decade, since 2007. That length of ownership matters in the collector world, where cars frequently change hands as investments rather than staying with someone who actually uses and understands them. A decade with the same rare Hemi Superbird suggests Lembeck isn’t just holding an asset — he’s a genuine steward of one of roughly 135 examples of a very specific piece of NASCAR homologation history.

The Color Everyone’s Talking About

Vitamin C — Plymouth’s High Impact orange — is exactly the kind of loud, era-defining paint color that either works perfectly on a car this outlandish or clashes badly, and judging by the comments, this Superbird lands firmly on the “works perfectly” side. One viewer jokes about developing “a vitamin C deficiency” after watching, a lighthearted way of admitting the color left an impression. Another calls it simply the most beautiful and memorable muscle car of the entire 1970s, color included.

A Car Built to Win NASCAR, Not Stoplights

The Superbird’s aggressive nose cone and towering wing weren’t styling exercises — they were engineered specifically to reduce drag and add downforce at NASCAR speeds, requirements Plymouth had to meet to get the car approved for stock car racing under homologation rules. That racing pedigree is why the Superbird looks nothing like a standard Road Runner despite sharing its basic platform, and why enthusiasts treat it as one of the most purpose-built muscle cars of the entire era rather than just another performance package.

Why the Hemi Version Commands a Premium

Even among Superbirds, the 426 Hemi option set a car apart at the time and sets it apart even more today. The Hemi’s reputation for raw power made it the performance halo engine of Chrysler’s entire muscle car lineup, and pairing it with the already-limited Superbird body created a car that combined NASCAR aerodynamics with Chrysler’s most feared street engine. That combination — rarity stacked on rarity — is exactly why Hemi Superbirds sit near the top of nearly every serious Mopar collector’s want list.

Lou Costabile’s ‘My Car Story’ and Why Owners Trust It

Costabile’s “My Car Story” series has built a following specifically by getting owners like Lembeck to open up about cars most people only ever see behind glass or across an auction stage. A comment thanking Lembeck for “sharing all his cars” with Costabile points at exactly why the show works: owners with serious collections trust Costabile enough to let him document not just the specs, but the personal history behind cars this significant, giving viewers access most collector-car content never provides.

What This Superbird Represents Today

With NASCAR-homologation muscle cars now firmly established as blue-chip collector pieces, a Hemi Superbird like Lembeck’s represents both automotive and motorsport history in a single package — a street-legal version of the aerodynamic arms race that defined stock car racing at the turn of the decade. Fewer than 150 people ever got to own one with the Hemi from the factory, and Lembeck’s decade-plus of stewardship keeps this specific example exactly where enthusiasts want it: on the road, on camera, and still turning heads in Vitamin C orange.

What Separates a Superbird from a Standard Road Runner

Beyond the nose cone and wing, Superbirds received reinforced structural mounting points to handle the aerodynamic add-ons at speed, along with a specific vinyl roof treatment that hid the factory seams left over from splicing in the aero nose. Those details make an authentic Superbird meaningfully different from a standard Road Runner with an aftermarket wing kit bolted on, and they’re exactly the kind of factory-specific features that serious appraisers check before validating a car’s authenticity.

The Auction Market for Cars Like This One

Hemi Superbirds that come up for public auction routinely draw bidding well into seven figures, reflecting both the model’s NASCAR significance and the vanishingly small number of surviving Hemi-equipped examples. Lembeck choosing to keep his car in private ownership and bring it to events like the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, rather than consigning it to auction, is itself a notable decision given what a car like this could command on the open market today.

Why This Interview Endures

Videos like this one age well precisely because they capture context that a photo or a spec sheet never could — Lembeck’s own voice explaining what drew him to this specific Superbird, and what a decade of ownership has taught him about one of Mopar’s rarest homologation specials. Years after filming, that firsthand account remains the most complete record of this particular car’s story, more valuable with each passing year as the number of people who can speak to Superbird ownership firsthand keeps shrinking. It also underscores something easy to forget amid auction headlines and record sale prices: behind every seven-figure Superbird is an owner with a personal reason for holding onto it, and Lembeck’s decade-plus of stewardship is exactly the kind of story that gives a car like this more meaning than its price tag alone ever could.

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